


Test Subject #1-R

by JustAndrea



Category: Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Cartoon 2018)
Genre: Brotherly Bonding, Gen, Lasers, Mild arguments, Mystic ability testing, Science Experiments, Sparring, brothers having fun w/ science and mystic powers, mystic powers discussion
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-23
Updated: 2020-09-23
Packaged: 2021-03-08 01:34:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,906
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26617525
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JustAndrea/pseuds/JustAndrea
Summary: “Why were you trying to lift a bus anyway?” Donnie asked, his face a mix of tired and exasperated, “Do you seriously not remember last time?”“No, I remember,” Raph replied, scowling a little, “I just thought that now that I had a little more Raph power-!”“While the scientific part of me would like to encourage experimenting and testing, I’m fairly certain your Aura Clone-Jutsu technique wasn’t meant to be used to pick up buses for fun.”
Relationships: Raphael (TMNT) & Donatello (TMNT)
Comments: 8
Kudos: 73





	Test Subject #1-R

**Author's Note:**

> Soooo, yeahhhh, it's a crime that we never got a proper team-up ep between Raph and Donnie in Rise of the TMNT - especially since eps like 'Late Fee' showed that they had a fun dynamic. So I really wanted to write one, and apparently my brain thought that a good way to have a Raph and Donnie team-up/bonding story was to write a fic focused on trying to explain the logic behind Raph's new Naruto powers. Because that's just how my brain works I guess, lol.
> 
> Anyway, this was a ton of fun to write, so I hope you guys enjoy! ^v^ (also apologies if I get any scientific terms wrong)

_“Scanning… Scanning… More scanning…”_

Raph did his best not to fidget as the warm purple light slowly went up and down his body. From the corner of his eye, Raph could see Donnie typing a few notes on his wrist-tablet, purposely turned away so that he couldn’t see his purple brother’s face.

Finally, the light shut off. _“Scan complete!”_ S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N. told them cheerfully. Despite his consciousness being temporarily stuck in Donnie’s computer until his creator could finish building his Version 3.0 body, the former drone still seemed to be in good spirits.

_“I am detecting some muscle strains in your arms and hands, and some bruising in those spots and in your lower back. But nothin’ too serious and no broken bones or hairline shell cracks either. So yeah, you’re all good, bruh!”_

“Thanks, Shelly,” Raph nodded. Twiddling his fingers a bit, he then looked at Donnie. The softshell paused his typing… and sighed.

“Why were you trying to lift a bus anyway?” Donnie asked, his face a mix of tired and exasperated, “Do you seriously not remember last time?”

“No, I remember,” Raph replied, scowling a little, “I just thought that now that I had a little more Raph power-!”

“While the scientific part of me would like to encourage experimenting and testing, I’m fairly certain your Aura Clone-Jutsu technique wasn’t meant to be used to pick up buses for fun,” Donnie dryly replied.

“It could be!” Raph paused for a moment. “And it wasn’t just ‘for fun’,” he argued, “It’s called training.”

“It’s called taking a risk and testing your limits and _being stupid about it!”_ Donnie snapped. However, when Raph’s scowl became a wince, Donnie’s expression softened a little. “Ugh, sorry. Sorry... I- I just-”

“I know… Sorry I worried you, Don. And yeah, it was kinda stupid…”

“...” Donnie sighed again, sitting down next to his big brother on the cold metal table. “Yeah well, I know you didn’t mean to worry anyone… Why are you so focused on lifting buses anyway? I know you like being the Muscle of our team but, how often are we going to need you to lift a bus?”

Raph huffed a little. “You wouldn’t know it by the way Mikey is always grabbin’ things and throwin’ them. Buses and semis and huge tankers…”

“Are we jealous of our youngest brother, mayhaps?” Donnie smirked.

“Tc’ch, no! ...Maybe. A little.” Raph sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck. “Don’t get me wrong, it’s really cool and amazing that he was able to do that with his ‘fundo, and I’m pretty sure he’ll still be able to do it with his ‘chucks, but-”

“But you’re already comfortable in your role as the so-called ‘biggest and strongest’ of the team, and while that doesn’t necessarily mean you want the rest of us to be weak, you also still want to feel like you bring something useful and unique to the team.”

Raph blinked, staring at his brother in purple. “That’s… wow. Yeah, that’s pretty much exactly what it feels like. How did you-?”

“Educated guess,” Donnie said quickly, facing forward now instead of looking at Raph, “But I guess while we’re on the subject of feelings, I suppose I should tell you that not only do we all still see you as strong, but that even if you suddenly became weak and powerless, we would still care about you because familial love and all that. So, yeah…” 

He put a hand on Raph’s shell, patting it. “Don’t think that you always have to be the strong one for us to care about you or want you around, alright?” Donnie told him, smiling a little now, “We’re always going to need our big brother…”

Raph smiled back at him, a bit misty-eyed as he pulled Donnie into a hug. He might have tried to be an ‘emotionless bad boy’ at times, but Raph and his family knew very well that Donnie was just as soft as the rest of them, and moments like this just proved it. Still, he treasured them nonetheless. “Thanks, Don… That means a lot.” Donnie said nothing, but he did continue the shell pats as he loosely returned the hug.

Once it ended, Raph let himself lay back down on the table, staring up at the dark ceiling of his brother’s newly refurbished lab. “Man… It would still be cool to be strong enough to lift a whole bus though. I mean- what if you guys were trapped under one? Or we were fighting a mutant whose only weakness was getting smashed by a bus?”

Donnie held back a snicker. “I’m pretty sure getting hit by a bus would be most people’s weakness, Raphael. But as for that first scenario, as unlikely as it would be, I suppose you do have a point. Still, I thought you preferred fighting fist-to-fist?”

“I do, I do. But- I still wanna improve, you know?” Raph continued, “I mean, I don’t wanna hit my peak at fifteen! I wanna keep getting stronger and better at fighting- heck, I don’t even know what my new mystic powers can do yet!” Frankly, it was still crazy to think about.

Over the past several months, he had gotten so used to using his aura form in fights, with his Power Smash Jitsus being as easy as breathing! He could make himself giant enough to protect himself and his family, make his fists giant, even make a second set of fists to use! It may have still been the tried and true strategy of smashing and bashing at the end of the day, but even so, Raph still considered it pretty versatile. 

But now? Well… as crazy cool as his new Aura Clone Jutsu move was, Raph was eager to see what else he could do. Unfortunately, with Shredder gone, Draxum still good and Big Mama still in traction, there weren't really any big threats to worry about - certainly nothing big enough to go all out on. “I almost wish we had a new greatest enemy to fight… Is that selfish? That’s selfish. Ugh, hope I didn’t just jinx us…”

Donnie smirked again. “Maybe a bit selfish, yes, but it’s still normal to want to feel challenged. Aaaaand I have to admit, I too am admittedly curious as to the full spectrum of what our new mystic weapons can do and what new abilities we all have.”

“Really?” Raph asked, “What happened to only focusing on tech and science?”

“Ah-ah-ah!” Donnie waved a finger at him. “if we still use the scientific method during our testing and research phases, it still counts as science even if what we’re testing is mystic based!” he insisted. 

Besides, while a small part of him would always miss his tech-bo, now that he no longer had to worry about making sure his homemade weapon kept up with his brothers’, Donnie miiiiiight have been a bit more open to mystic stuff. (It might have helped that the conversation he’d had with April in Witch Town was still in the back of Donnie’s mind, even weeks later…)

“However, if you not only want to see what you can do but also see how you can eventually improve, then we have to do this properly,” Donnie continued. Raph sat up, curious now as Donnie began to pace. He ran yearly physicals on all his family members just to make sure they were all healthy, but this would require much more than simply knowing Raph’s weight and blood pressure.

“We’d have to get base numbers for all of your current stats before we began testing. Once we have the proper information, we can use basic tests to see what specific conditions affect which stat and how your physical strength, endurance and mystic power intertwine, and from there you’ll not only know your limits, but will also hopefully know how to train in order to increase those limits!”

“...So, basically we’re gonna see exactly how strong I am now, and use that to figure out how I can get stronger?” Raph summed up.

Donnie grinned. “Exactly. You in?”

Raph normally didn’t like the idea of being his brother’s test subject, but this? This would definitely be an exception. “Let’s do it!” Raph nodded, grinning back at him.

“Great!” Donnie began typing on his wrist tablet. “We’ll start next week. Does Thursday work for you?”

“Wait, next week? Why can’t we just start now?” Raph asked.

The softshell gave him a flat look, and wordlessly pointed down at Raph’s hands - hands that were still bandaged and incredibly sore due to him going from part of a team of eight to suddenly being stuck trying to lift 24,000 pounds all by himself once his identical assistants glitched and bursted out of existence like Foot Soldiers bursting into confetti.

“...Right. Yeah, Thursday’s good.”

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

**_Trial Start Date: Thursday, June 20th, 2019._ **

**_Subject: #1-R_ **

**_Background Informat-_ **

“Why do you have to call me 1-R?” Raph asked suddenly, much to Donnie’s slight annoyance, “Can’t you just call me Raph?”

“ _Siiiiigh._ Because, I want this to be as close to professional scientific research as possible,” Donnie explained, “If we’re going to do this right, we have to do it accurately, otherwise we may overlook something.” After all, he already had a personal bias and personal investment that he couldn’t completely ignore, but at the very least he could act as though said bias wasn’t going to affect any of the results.

Raph shrugged. “Whatever you say, Donnie.” If his brother wanted to play scientist, he wasn’t going to stop him, even if it was a little unnecessary in his opinion. Though, as he stared at the camera Donnie had set up, the lens aimed squarely at Raph’s face, the snapper couldn’t help but squirm a little, wondering what exactly Donnie had in mind for ‘research and tests’.

“Now, as I was saying- Background information,” Donnie started again, speaking loud and clear into his recording device, “Subject #1-R is a mutant, male, age is fifteen years and ten months. DNA base is an alligator snapping turtle, which was then mixed with human DNA.” He paused before adding, “Note to self, ask Draxum for all information he has on mutagen.”

“Just don’t let Pops see you with that stuff,” Raph told him. Self-acceptance aside, mutation was still a touchy subject for their father, and he probably wouldn’t feel comfortable with one of his sons having a bunch of ooze on hand, never mind the fact that more mutants was the last thing they needed.

“Also noted.” Donnie then continued on, listing the data he already had on hand on his brother from his last physical. Once that was taken care of, Donnie directed his attention away from his tablet and instead focused on Raph himself - or rather, the pair of mystic sais hanging off his belt. “Okay, we have the information on you, but what about _them?_ ” he asked, using his stylus to point at the sharp weaponry. 

“Oh. Well, they used to be garden rakes-” Raph started before Donnie held up a hand.

“I meant, what can you tell me about how they work?” he explained, “How do you activate them, and how does it feel to use them. And yes, before you ask, I already know the gist of that answer due to having a mystic weapon of my own with similar Todd-related origins, but again we must be thorough about this _,_ Raphael.”

“Right, right. Well…” Raph thought about it, taking out one of his sais and spinning it in his hand as he recalled his first battle with it. “Once I unlocked my ninpo, things just felt… natural I guess? Like I already knew how to use ‘em?”

Donnie paused before nodding. Thinking back, he had felt the same way. When Raph had thrown himself off that cliff, Donnie had tapped into his own power to try and save him, and from then on, his ninpo and how he used it was like an extension of his mind… Honestly, that was just mind-blowing - both figuratively and literally.

“Yeah... it was kinda like how I figured out how to use my tonfas after a while, but this time I didn’t even really have to teach myself or train- I just _knew._ But, I guess that makes sense since I guess I was the one that made ‘em mystic.”

Donnie nodded again, now typing away. That also made sense - they had seen how Karai had been able to turn his titanium bust (an item he still needed to replace at some point, ugh) into what was essentially a blade made of pure Hamato energy. 

She had transformed it into the exact weapon she needed - but he and his brothers had taken that concept a step further, given that three out of the four of them were already used to having extra abilities when it came to these weapons. Even Donnie, whose experience with mysticism was limited, simply thought of his weapon as a non-tech tech-bo, and its transforming abilities just followed suit. Too bad mystic weapons didn’t come with instructions or blueprints like hand-made, tech-filled weapons did.

“I suppose the question is, did your new mystic power come with the weapon itself or did you choose your new ability, and if so, was this choice done on purpose or was it subconscious?” Donnie asked - a question that he himself couldn’t completely answer in that moment, but was still hoping for some insight on.

“Uhh, both, I think?” Raph answered, “I feel like if it had been only my choice, I would’ve done somethin’ similar to my old mystic powers.” After all, while they had certainly leveled them up some, Leo and Mikey’s new powers were very similar to their old ones. “But like I said, I just sorta already knew what I could do, so I just did it.” He then smiled. “You gotta admit, making your own team of you’s to take hits and fight alongside you is pretty awesome.”

“Indeed,” Donnie smiled, giving a small hum. He wondered if Raph’s desires to not have to take on unfamiliar situations alone and his DID also played a role in how his brother’s new ability manifested, but perhaps that was too abstract of a question for the moment. “So, how exactly does it feel when you use your power?”

“Wait, you wanna talk about feelings? I mean, not that I’m complaining, but-”

“No, I meant literally how does it feel, given that you seem to be splitting up your consciousness several times over,” Donnie explained, “But hey, that’s just an outsider’s perspective - hence the previous question.”

“Ah, right, got it. Well, it’s kinda… it’s like…” Raph furrowed his brow, continuing to spin his sai as he tried to find the right words, “Like- playing a video game! You’re controlling yourself, but you’re also sorta controlling your character - but instead of a video game character, it’s a bunch of other you’s.”

Donnie’s eyes widened slightly. “So it’s like a hive mind, then? Like- a bunch of soldiers following the orders of one leader?”

“Sort of but- a lot less rigid, I think,” Raph told him, “More like, I have a goal and a plan in mind when I make them, and then they have it in mind too. I don’t control their every single move, but I’m still able to strategize and stuff, think a couple moves ahead.” He then smiled, chuckling to himself. “How about that? I guess I really am getting better at planning!”

Donnie smiled, a bit of pride slipping into his expression. To think, back when their biggest concerns were annoying silverfish and turtle-eating pig chefs, he thought Raph would need a helping helmet just to assure that he wouldn’t always go running fists-first into a battle without a plan all the time. “Hey, maybe you’ll be able to match Leon’s planning skills one day.”

“Heh, thanks, but I doubt it,” Raph chuckled, “I may be getting better, but Leo’s a natural when it comes to plans. A total checkermaster when he wants to be.”

“Chessmaster,” Donnie flatly corrected. (Seriously, what was with people and getting those games mixed up, they couldn’t be more different!) “And true. Makes me glad that he decides to be lazy and careless most of the time. ...Also we’re getting off-topic.”

“Right, my bad. Anyway, yeah, I think they’re each their own Raph, even if I still have a connection to them,” Raph told him, “I can tell them what to do, but I can’t completely control them or see through their eyes or anything like that. ...At least, I don’t think I can.” Honestly, the battle he had first used his aura clones in went by so fast, he couldn’t really say for sure.

Thankfully, Donnie didn’t mind at all. “Well, that’s what tests are for - and speaking of which.” He grinned, letting just a little of his eager scientist side shine through, “I think we’re ready to get started on them!”

“Riiiiight, and just what exactly are these tests gonna be?” Raph asked, crossing his arms. Donnie simply smiled as he turned off his recorder.

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

 **TEST #1:** _STRENGTH, COMBAT-FOCUSED, SOLO AND CLONE_

Raph grunted, just barely breaking a sweat as he finished his two minute round with the heavy bag. Said heavy bag had been specially designed by Donnie a few days prior, and while still filled with padding also had wires and sensors throughout it.

Once the two minutes were up, Raph sat down for a brief rest, taking a sip of the water his purple brother had provided for him. On one of the lab’s computer screens, data was being entered and configured into a small graph.

 _“Wow, R-Dawg, you’re a BEAST!”_ S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N. told him as the number continued to be typed out, _“Your strongest recorded hit weighed in at 261 PSI!”_

“That’s Pounds per Square Inch,” Donnie explained, “And what of his punching force, SHELLDON?”

_“A little over 2700 Neutons!”_

“Whoa,” Raph blinked, “I don’t know what a Neuton is, but that sounds pretty great!”

“Oh it definitely is,” Donnie smiled, “You’re punching at a rate higher than most boxers, though that isn’t exactly too surprising. Still, having a baseline is ALWAYS a necessity. Buuuut, now that we have it…”

Raph nodded, knowing what the next test would be. Taking out his sais, he crossed his arms and concentrated. In a split second, a second Raph appeared beside him. Donnie had made sure to make two punching bags for this test, so each of them took a bag.

 _“Sensors are reset!”_ S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N. announced. Donnie reset his timer and counted them in, and as soon as he said go, the fists went flying.

This test was repeated two more times - with three Raphs the next time, and then with four, with two Raphs to a bag. Once the final test was finished, the other three Raphs phased out of existence while the real one sat down for another rest. Still, even if his fists were a bit sore and he was starting to get a bit sweaty, he was far from exhausted, and he was sure the results would reflect that.

Speaking of which- “So, how’d we do, Donnie?” Raph asked. When Donnie didn’t answer right away, the snapper gave a small smirk. “What, were we so strong that we broke your gear? Heh.” When Donnie still didn’t answer, Raph felt a pinch of worry. “Wait, shoot, did we actually break it? ‘Cause I swear I wasn’t trying to-”

“Trust me, Raph, when I told you to ‘go all out’ during these tests, I made sure my equipment was prepared for whatever that could entail,” Donnie told him, smirking a little himself, “As such, I’m pretty sure these results are accurate. They’re also fairly interesting.”

Pressing a button on his tablet caused the chart he was using to be blown up on the larger computer screen - a visual one, given that Raph wasn’t the greatest with numbers. Raph looked at it, and noticed that with each test, the line that marked the average force of his punches would get slightly lower.

“Wait, what? Why would I get weaker each time? Sure it’s not by much, but still!”

“Well, we’d need to do this test at least two more times to be sure it wasn’t just fatigue playing a part in it,” Donnie began, “But another explanation, one that honestly makes just as much sense if not more so, is that each time you clone yourself you’re splitting your energy - both physical and mystic energy.”

“Oh… So, the more I split myself up, the more energy I have to share, which makes me weaker than I’d be if I wasn’t doing Aura Clone Jutsu?”

“Precisely.”

“Hmph, well that’s disappointing…” Furrowing his brow a bit, Raph pointed at the screen. “But wait, look how little strength the Raphs lose each time there’s more of us. Not that I’m complaining, but if I had to share my fighting energy each time I split myself up, wouldn’t there be a bigger drop?”

“You would think,” Donnie dryly said, “and just like that, I’m reminded why I hate dealing with mystic stuff. It’s hard to appreciate the coolness of something when the actual logic and reasoning behind it makes no sense in the real world.”

“Heh, you mean the ‘science world’?”

“Oh, shut up.”

Raph chuckled. “Well, it’s not JUST mystic power - it’s not like my tonfas. Technically there’s some Hamato power too. So, maybe our power isn’t cut in half cause each Raph is giving 110%! Yeah, no way a Raph - even one that’s just an aura clone - is gonna go into a fight without givin’ it his all!”

Donnie blinked. “...So you’re theorizing that these numbers are based off of not just measurements of force and mass… but also the strength and power of self love and determination?”

“Yeah!” Raph grinned, crossing his arms, “I like that theory!”

 _“Same here!”_ S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N. agreed, _“Best scientific theory I’ve heard all day!”_

“See? Shelly gets it!” Gently, Raph high-fived the screen while S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N. brought up a jpeg of a ‘high-five’ emoji.

“Ugh…” Donnie rubbed his forehead in an attempt to rid himself of the slight headache that was growing. “I’m going to get more coffee, because Pizza Supreme knows I’m going to need it, and hope that the next test’s results can be explained with actual equations.” As he walked away, he made a brief note on his tablet:

 **RESULTS:** _INCONCLUSIVE. REQUIRES FURTHER TESTS..._

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

 **TEST #2:** _ENDURANCE, DISTANCE-FOCUSED, CLONE_

Donnie pulled down his goggles, adjusting them slightly as his hovershell carried him above the rooftops. Some incoming smog was making it hard to see his brother, but switching from his normal eyesight to ‘mystic vision’ did wonders.

“Honestly I’m surprised he’s lasted for this long,” he muttered to himself. Raph hopped another rooftop, landing perfectly and continuing on without even needing to take a break. Still keeping at a steady pace, and no trips or faltering either.

Days ago, when he had still been designing these tests, Donnie had briefly remembered Raph telling him how he’d had to keep tossing his sais to ‘himself’ as he and his clones fought Shredder. It made sense, given that it took much MUCH more than fists to take out an armored demon, but Donnie had wondered if there had been an instinctive second reason for it. Hence test #2, which was proving to be much more surprising than the first in terms of what he had been expecting. 

“Definitely blew my estimation out of the water,” Donnie said, sparing a moment to glance down at his tablet, where he had written a reasonable ‘fifty feet, give or take’ in the spot on the excel sheet dedicated to hypotheses. That had been a couple dozen rooftops ago. He sighed. Okay fine, perhaps his brother’s theory about each of his clone’s having their own source of determination-rooted energy was worth looking into.

Looking back down at the roof, Donnie flinched slightly when he didn't see any sign of the Raph. “Wh- Where did he-?” He glanced over his shoulder, and saw his brother’s body, collapsed a few feet away. “Ah, perhaps I spoke too soon.” He then lowered himself down, and by the time he landed, the Raph’s mystic energy had broken down and disappeared into the night.

Once he had typed in the results, Donnie took out his cell phone and dialed. It only took Raph one ring to answer. “Hey, he lasted about one mile.”

**_“Yeah, I know.”_ **

“You do?”

**_“Er- I didn’t know he lasted a mile but- I knew he disappeared. My sais glowed for a second, and I sorta got that deja vu feeling? Like, a sort of flash of where he had been before he disappeared? Nothing more than that though, no thoughts or memories or whatever.”_ **

Donnie hummed. “Still, that sort of proves that while each clone Raph is his own person, their consciousness and your consciousness are still connected, if only slightly.” Just enough for Raph to create them with a person, for them to know the same strategies and same goals that he knew, and for him to then know where they had spent their last seconds. “Did that happen last time?”

**_“Hmph, like I told you, Don, that fight with Shred-head went by way too fast to know.”_ **

“Fair enough. Anyway-” Donnie looked back at his tablet, “While he was able to last a while and could in theory be used to gather information or act as surveillance, he couldn’t last without a proper conduit. Of course, this is just one scenario, and we don’t know whether he disappeared due to the distance away from your sais or because of some internal estimation date.”

**_“Hmm… You think if I concentrated or meditated or whatever, I could make ‘em last longer?”_ **

“I doubt it,” Donnie told him, “Remember, once you create them, you just barely have a link to them. Although, there is one thing I’m curious about… You up for a mile-long walk?”

There was a pause. **_“...Can we grab snacks on the way home?”_ **

Donnie hummed again, feeling his stomach. It was still going to be a while before supper. “I’m good with that.”

**_“Cool. Yeah, I’m good with a walk.”_ **

“Good. I want you to create another clone and walk with him to where I’m at. Don’t let him hold your sai, but stay near him, and we’ll see if he lasts as long as the previous clone.”

 ** _“Right, copy that."_** With that, Donnie hung up and sat down, switching to social media. Even at his slowest, he didn’t expect Raph to take longer than a half an hour or so to reach him, so Donnie didn’t mind waiting.

...Except he kept waiting. And waiting, aaaaand waiting.

“...Ugh. Really?” The softshell groaned, more than a little annoyed at this point. Though, knowing Raph, there was always a chance he might have ran into some ruffians or low-level criminals up to no good and wanted to take care of them, even if he was without his Red Angel costume. So, bringing out his hover propellers once again, Donnie went searching.

Thankfully, Raph wasn’t trying to take on a new gang or stop a robbery with only himself (literally) for back-up... but he _was_ apparently trying to show an empty trash can who’s boss.

“You see! Look at how much damage that did!” One of the Raph’s - the one that had just dropped a Hibernator on the innocent trash can - said. He then picked the can up and, with a bit of extra strength, was able to fix the dent he had made in it. Still, his point was valid, as far as he was concerned. “No other move could finish like that! The Hibernator is the best wrestling move, no question!”

“Look, I’m not gonna say that the Hibernator isn’t cool,” the other Raph said, “There’s a reason why it’s our favorite move. But it’s not the BEST move. You really wanna take a guy out and win the match, you gotta make the Bear-Paw Powerslam your finisher!”

The first Raph scoffed. “The Bear-Paw Powerslam? Seriously?! Okay fine, it’s pretty awesome, but you can’t K.O. a guy with a powerslam!”

“Maybe not, but you could still finish a match with it if you use it just right,” his clone argued, “What, you want me to prove it to you?”

Raph smirked, clearly more than ready for a quick tussle - especially if it meant proving that he was right. “I’d like to see you try!”

“Ahem.” Both Raphs looked over, finally noticing Donnie’s presence. “Oh, sorry,” he said flatly, “Am I interrupting something?”

“Oh, uhh-” “Heh, sorry.” The two Raphs gave sheepish grins. “See, we were on our way when we started talking about wrestling-” “And then this guy starts saying how the Hibernator is overhyped. Can you believe that?!” “Hey, I didn’t say it was a bad thing. I just think that if you wanna take out an opponent without havin’ to pretend to be knocked out yourself, the Bear-Paw Powerslam is the way to go!” “Donnie, tell him the Hibernator is better. Come on, you’ve seen for yourself what it can do!”

Donnie didn’t say a word, instead simply pinching the bridge of his snout. On second thought, maybe he should have expected this, given Raph’s wrestling hyperfixation as well as his habit of literally arguing with himself.

“Oh, wait- did we keep you waiting?” One of the Raphs winced. “Sorry, guess we got caught up in our debate.”

“It’s fine,” his purple brother sighed, “On the plus side, given how much longer this Raph has lasted, we now know that their existence isn’t based on a time limit but most likely on relative distance to a conduit, i.e. your sais.” 

He typed out these results, feeling a bit more satisfied even if it wasn’t a full conclusion. There were still more scenarios and variables to test, after all. But in the meantime- “Should we go get snacks now, or are you going to wrestle with yourself first?” Donnie asked.

“Nah.” One of the Raphs reached out and love-tapped the other square in the chest, causing his clone to phase out of existence. “Snacks are good.”

“I agree.” The two quickly climbed up a nearby fire escape, heading back up towards the rooftops and before running towards the nearest bodega. “...So does you dispersing him mean that you won that argument or…?

“I mean, _I_ think it did,” Raph replied. There was a long pause. “...Although, I guess now that I’m really thinkin’ about it, he did maybe have one or two good points.”

 **RESULTS:** _CLONES CAN SEEMINGLY LAST FOR INDEFINITE AMOUNTS OF TIME, BUT MUST BE NEAR MYSTIC CONDUIT/CAN’T BE HIT TO CONTINUE EXISTING. LIMIT - 1 MI. (ADDITIONAL NOTES: ALSO, APPARENTLY, CAN HAVE THEIR OWN OPINIONS. LOOK INTO LATER.)_

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

 **TEST #3:** _ENDURANCE, STEALTH/STRATEGY-FOCUSED, CLONE_

Leonardo yawned, stretching his arms a little. He liked the days where he could just chill out and reread his extensive collection of Jupiter Jim comics for hours on end. But as much as he enjoyed it, he couldn’t do it all day - not until he figured out a way to read that wouldn’t make his back stiff and his eyes tired after a while.

So, the blue-wearing slider was off to find something else to do, lest he start to become bored. And luckily, from what he could hear, their father wasn’t taking up the TV room at the moment. “Hey,” Leo greeted as he walked in, smiling at the familiar cartoon playing on screen.

“Hey,” Raph nodded back, barely glancing away from the screen.

“Mind if I hang here for a while?” his brother asked.

“Sure.”

“Cool. Back in a sec.” No way was he going to watch TV without something to munch on. Walking a bit faster, Leo headed towards the kitchen. “I wonder if we’ve got any of those mini pretzels left,” he mumbled to himself, “Or maybe some ice-”

He stopped, and stared at the spiky shell of his oldest brother as he stood by the sink, casually washing dishes. “-cream… Uhh, hey?”

“Hey,” Raph greeted, giving a brief soap-covered wave, “You need somethin’?”

“No, no. Just- ...You know what, never mind.” Shaking his head, Leo grabbed his snack - yaaaay, mini pretzels! - and headed back to the TV room. By the time he sat down next to his big brother (er, his OTHER big brother), he had a small smirk on his face.

“What?” Raph asked, glancing over at him.

“Gotta say, didn’t know you had it in you to be sneaky like that, Raph,” Leo told him, “Using an aura clone to do chores while you chill out? I’m impressed.” And maybe even a little jealous, if he was completely honest. Only a little though - his teleporting katanas were still way WAY cooler.

Raph blinked. “Oh. Uh, yep. Just felt like being clever,” he shrugged before turning his attention back to his show, chuckling at a joke.

“...Right. Oh, also, I grabbed enough to share.” He proudly presented the bowl of mini pretzels, holding it out in front of Raph’s chest. “You’re welcome.”

“Oh, thanks but no thanks. Raph’s good,” Raph told him. Again, he barely looked away from the fabric screen.

Leo frowned. Okay, now this was just getting weird. Raph LOVED crunchy food! Even if he was feeling super polite for whatever reason that day, he still would’ve at least taken a couple pretzels! “Dude, what is with you?”

Raph stiffened a little. “I’m just not hungry, alright?”

“But-” Leo stopped, getting an idea. Setting the bowl down, he played it cool for just a second, just enough for Raph to let his guard down. Then, as soon as the snapper was fully distracted, Leo punched him in the arm. Not too hard of course, not wanting to actually hurt him if his suspicions were wrong, but just enough. As it turned out, Leo had been right, and the TV watching Raph phased out of existence.

“Ooooookay.” Taking his bowl with him, Leo went back to the kitchen. The other Raph was still there, drying off his hands. So, his brother made a clone of himself to relax for him while the real him did chores? “Unless…” Grabbing a paper towel roll off the kitchen counter he chucked it. “Heads up!”

“Wh-” Raph turned, and got beaned right in the forehead. But instead of crying out, he glitched and his body dispersed while the paper towels bounced off the wall behind him and landed in the sink.

“Whoops.” Leo ran over and fished them out before they could get too damp. “Okay, so if the Raph watching TV was a clone, and the Raph washing dishes was a clone, then the real Raph has to be-”

“Oh yeah, new high score! Ha, told you I could do it!”

The blue turtle smirked. “Bingo!” Abandoning his pretzels again, he raced out of the kitchen and hopped down to the first floor, practically leaping into their arcade. “Alright, dude, you had your clone fun, but joke’s ov- _whaaaaaaat_.”

Raphs. Raphs _everywhere_. Raphs playing the video game cabinets that they managed to either salvage from their old home or sneak out of permanently closed Albearto locations, Raphs cheering the other Raphs on as they played, even Raphs using the small table in the corner of the arcade to play hanafuda!

“I don’t- Why would you even- Okay **look**. Everyone, listen up!” Leo shouted. The Raphs all stopped, a couple annoyed that they had to stop in the middle of their game. “Everyone who’s a clone, raise your hand!” They stared at him for a moment before every single one of them raised their hand. Leo facepalmed.

“What’s with the shouting?” he heard Mikey asked from behind him, “What, are they not sharing?”

“Where’s Raph?” Leo asked him, “The REAL Raph. Seriously, what is up with all these clones?!” He turned back to the Raph-filled arcade. “Because if this is a prank, you guys nailed the set-up but you need to work on the actual punch line!”

“Well, I know I saw him in his room,” Mikey started to say, “Buuut I also saw a couple in the dojo, and the garage, and the TV room-”

“I already ran into the one in the TV room,” Leo told him. His eyes then widened. “Unless…” He raced past Mikey, who could only really shrug off Leo’s annoyance, being much more interested in challenging Raph to a round of Skateboard Fighterz 7, not really caring which Raph he was actually playing with.

Mikey did however chuckle a little when he heard his blue brother’s screech from the atrium - and he wasn’t the only one. From his seat in front of his computers, the lair’s surveillance system catching every moment of the prank, Donnie was able to relax and enjoy every second of his little trick.

Raph however was less than amused. “How much longer do we have to do this?”

“Juuuust until I feel properly compensated for the ink on my goggles prank last week.” It had taken Donnie nearly half an hour of scrubbing to get rid of the new red ‘stripes’ around his eyes, while Leo had just snickered and asked why he didn’t want to look more like his twin. “Besides, I know you find this funny too.”

“Hmph, yeah, maybe for the first few minutes. But this is a little overkill, don’t you think?”

“Relax, Raphael,” Donnie assured, “I do this not only in good fun, but for the sake of science! After all, this _does_ serve a purpose in our testing.”

“Uh huh,” Raph crossed his arms, “then why do I still feel like I’m gonna be the one getting in trouble for it?” 

“Fiiiine, I’ll let Leon know that this was all my idea.” Deciding it would be best to change subjects, he tapped his tablet awake. “How are you feeling, by the way? Still no side effects?”

“Not really,” Raph shrugged. On one of the screens, he saw Leo dispel a couple more clones. So he set down his bag of chips he had gotten earlier, and took out his sais. It only required a couple seconds of concentration for two more Raphs to appear, the clones casually walking out of the lab while Raph returned to his munching. “Maybe a little tired, but not like drop-dead exhausted or anything like that.”

“Which is definitely good to know.” Still, Donnie noted that while Raph had only gotten one small bag of chips from their little snack stop, he had since finished it and grabbed a bigger bag from their kitchen. He wasn’t sure if this was Raph’s normal appetite at work or not, but either way, Donnie still typed down ‘increased appetite’ under side effects, just in case.

 _“Okay seriously, Raph, where are you?!”_ **_“You talking to me?”_ ** _“The REAL Raph! UGHHH!”_ **_“Okay, geez. Snap at a guy for answering a question, why don’t ya?”_ **

Donnie smirked again at the screens. “Hehe, _amused chuckle_ ,” he mumbled.

The real Raph just rolled his eyes. He was NEVER going to understand the rivalry between his two middle brothers. But hey, if they enjoyed messing with each other one moment and being partners in crime the next, then Raph just figured that was up to them and more power to them.

 **RESULTS:** _MOST CURRENT TEST SHOWS A MAX. DUPLICATION OF 20 AURA CLONES - ALL OF WHICH CAN EXIST WITHOUT HINDERING THEIR INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCES OR CAUSING DRASTIC SIDE EFFECTS FOR THE MAIN SUBJECT._

_NOTE 1: SUBJECT #1-R MAY HAVE EXPERIENCED SLIGHT FATIGUE AND SLIGHT INCREASE IN APPETITE DUE TO MASS DUPLICATION, WILL NEED FURTHER TESTS TO CONFIRM._

_NOTE 2: SUBJECT #1-R REFUSED TO MAKE MORE THAN 20, WILL NEED FURTHER TESTS TO CONFIRM WHETHER HE CAN MAKE MORE THAN 20 AT A TIME._

()()()()()()()()()()())()()()()()()()

 **TEST #4:** _DURABILITY, STRENGTH-FOCUSED, SOLO AND CLONE_

With how much energy Raph had probably used in the last test, Donnie figured it would be for the best if Raph kept the cloning to a minimum.

Well, that and his brother in red only had two barbell weights and three sets of dumbbells. Still, Donnie figured that the weight lifting efforts of three aura clones plus Raph himself would give him more than enough strength-related data.

“How are you holding up, big guy?” Donnie asked after about fifteen minutes.

Raph gave him a smile. If it weren’t for the dumbbells in his hands, he would’ve given him a thumbs up. “Doing just fine! Heck, this is what I usually do for a cool down during my workouts.”

“I know, but even simple tests can give concrete data,” Donnie mildly argued, “and besides, given all we’ve already done today plus the one remaining test, I didn’t want to push you.” Even if this particular test had, ironically, been inspired by Raph pushing himself and his mystic technique far past its limit.

Raph briefly thought about that before nodding. “Yeah, can see that. Heh, thanks for lookin’ out for me, though.”

“No probles,” Donnie smiled back before moving along, his fingers tapping away at a steady pace. Looking at the other three Raphs, they all seemed just as relaxed, lifting their respective weights with ease. Even the two with the barbells weren’t straining themselves too much, able to do their reps without much extra effort at all.

“You know… it’s actually really cool.”

“What?” the Raphs asked in unison.

“Jinx,” Donnie smirked at them before looking back at his screen. He slid his finger across, bringing up a few candid pictures he had taken of Raph a few months ago of him using a Power Smash Jitsu or his giant form against an enemy.

“I know that your clones are essentially just a hard light projection, much like your original aura powers - except they’re not stuck surrounding you or your fists, and they’re an actual strategic attack instead of just acting as a shield or power boost,” he continued, “But even so… it’s really impressive!”

The real Raph smiled. “Heh, yep,” he nodded, “They are pretty cool.”

“ _Much_ more than cool. They’re not just light or energy, but they have actual mass and force to them!” Donnie said. Yes, a good hit or a single stab could take them out, but the fact that they could actually fight - that they could deliver a hard punch or had enough strength and durability to at the very least lift a 40 pound weight - was still kind of incredible to think about.

“...So,” Raph started to say, pulling his younger brother out of said thoughts, “I know that our first test sorta showed that each time I clone myself, we all lose a little bit of strength. But do you think that if I trained, I could sorta make my clones stronger by making myself stronger?”

“It’s certainly possible,” Donnie told him, “Though that doesn’t mean that I’d go all gung ho on the training right away, given that there’s a chance your own personal strength doesn’t affect your clones’ strength at all.” He made a note, figuring they could turn that into a long-term experiment later on. “Besides, you just got this power about two months ago, and you said it yourself that you haven’t had a ton of time to practice it.”

“I got ya,” Raph nodded. He had plenty of time to train and perfect his technique, and hopefully turn it into an even more awesome mystic power than it already was. “Don’t worry, I’m not going to burn myself out before I can show what I can really do with it.”

“Good to know. Though I still wouldn’t try lifting buses again for at least a year,” Donnie dryly replied.

Raph pouted slightly. “You are never gonna let me forget that, are you Don?”

“I’m still trying to figure out why you thought it would be a good idea in the first place.”

“A bus isn’t THAT heavy! I’ve lifted the Turtle Tank before, I could probably work my way up to a bus!”

Donnie just gave an extra-exasperated sigh. “Okay fine, theoretically you could work your way up to a bus. For now, can we PLEASE just start slow and focus on-!” He moved his arms out in one of his usual dramatic gestures, but in that moment he hadn’t noticed just how close he had been to one of the clone Raphs. 

His arm smacked against something, and he felt the ‘whoosh’ of mystic energy being dispelled, like the brief rush of heat that’s felt when someone opens a hot oven - leaving the barbell hanging in mid air for just a split second. 

“DONNIE!”

The moment it fell, Donnie instinctively stepped away, nearly tripping over himself at the sudden danger. But before the weight could hit (and most likely crack) the concrete floor of his brother’s room, a hand caught it.

The Raph now in front of him gripped the barbell tightly, as if to make sure that he had caught it, before setting it down gently and sighing.

“...” Slowly turning, he looked at the real Raph, who looked just as shocked as him, dumbbell-free hand still outstretched. Of course Raph had dropped his own weight at the sight, but had still been too far to grab the free falling barbell himself, so that had only left one other solution.

“...You know, even though we were testing your clones’ durability, I’m still writing that down because WOW that creation-speed was impressive, you didn’t even need to touch your sais for that!” Donnie told him. Yes, the slight panic might have been making his words a bit faster, but still! “I wonder if there’s a safe way we could duplicate that, see how fast you could create an aura clone to take a hit and how much concentration it would take,” he muttered.

Raph gave Donnie a look, suddenly understanding his exasperation from earlier. “Hmph, and you said I was bein’ reckless.”

 **RESULTS:** _WEIGHT LIFTING - SUCCESS, MOST CURRENT TEST SHOWS THEY CAN LIFT AT LEAST 40 POUNDS WITHOUT BREAKING DOWN._

_ADDTIONALLY: WEIGHT CATCHING - ALSO A SUCCESS._

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

 **TEST #5:** _STRATEGY, COMBAT-FOCUSED, SOLO AND CLONE_

It wasn’t the perfect set-up, Donnie could admit. As hard as he had worked in the past two months, he still only managed to rebuild a fraction of his previous gadgets and defenses. So, unfortunately, he didn’t have a whole mini army for Raph to really test his skills and go all out on.

Still, a security system - especially one built by him - was nothing to sneeze at. At the very least, Raph still seemed excited about it, given how he was shaking his fists and spinning his sais as he waited for their final test of the day to be set up. So, at least there was that.

“Okay…” Donnie sat down by the wall of the garage, wanting to have both the perfect observation point and to be out of the way as much as possible, “SHELLDON, you ready?”

 _“You know it, bruh!”_ the AI replied. To prove this, S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N. brought out the lasers and robotic arms that this particular part of the lair had been equipped with to prevent any would-be tank thieves from stealing Donnie’s second-favorite metal child/creation.

Raph grinned widely, gripping his weapons even tighter now. Donnie chuckled, tapping his tablet. “Alright, remember - once you disable all my defenses OR touch the Tank, you’ve passed and the test is over, understand?” 

“Yep! Raph’s got this!” he told him.

“Alright. Starting combat test… NOW!”

The stun lasers pointed their tips straight at the snapper, and Raph leapt forward without fear. With each step, he split himself apart, his sais glowing brilliantly. Two Raphs ran to the left and two to the right - each pair having one sai to go between them - while the center charged towards the Turtle Tank.

 _“Oh no you don’t!”_ S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N. told him as robotic arms stretched out towards him. Gritting his teeth, Raph jumped back into a defensive stance, preparing to fight the arms off.

The clones meanwhile were still dealing with the lasers, clearly acting as a distraction with the hopes of being able to disable them too. After all, if the lasers hit their targets, there would only be one TRUE target that they could aim towards. Time and strategy was of the essence.

Donnie leaned forward, watching intently as his typing slowed. “Come on, Raphs…”

S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N. chuckled as he managed to zap away one of the clones, leaving only three left - and one of the completely vulnerable. _“Tag! You’re it!”_ The AI quickly fired again, and the Raph gritted his teeth as he brought one arm to block and the other one - the one still holding his sai - back. And, just as the laser hit, a thin red coat of mystic energy spread across the blocking forearm.

“Oh my gosh-!” Donnie gasped in awe. The clone Raph grinned as he threw his sai hard just before dematerializing, the weapon hitting the metal joint that connected it to the ceiling.

Noticing this, the real Raph smiled and punched the falling laser, assuring that it wouldn’t keep firing on the ground, before grabbing his sai. “Time for a tag back!” he told his opponent. With a mighty battle cry, he began stabbing and swiping at the metal arms.

Meanwhile, the remaining two clones were planning a co-op move. Using his sai, one of the Raphs did his best to block the stun lasers - of course Donnie noticed the weapon’s glow, how could he not? His mind was racing, did Raph still have his old abilities as well as his new ones?! - while his partner did his best to sneak up on the laser.

Feeling like the timing was right, the second Raph jumped up. Of course, the moment S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N. saw this, he turned the laser around, preparing to shoot a stun shot right at the clone’s face. But the Raphs had been prepared for this.

The Raph still on the ground threw his sai, which the other Raph caught and used to then stab the laser, stopping it before it could even fire. “Oh YES!” Donnie grinned from the sidelines, on the edge of his seat now.

“Two down-” “And one to go!” the Raphs said as they charged the robotic arms.

“Looks like you’re a little outmatched, Shelly!” the real Raph told him as they fought, easily evading the former-drone’s attacks.

 _“Sorry, R-Dawg, but the game’s not over yet!”_ Being thin and quick, a couple of the arms actually managed to slip past the Raphs’ counter attacks, grabbing a couple of them by the ankle and tossing them away. One of the Raphs managed to toss the main one his remaining sai, but the moment they crashed into the wall, they disappeared - leaving only one Raph left standing.

But not for long! Gritting his teeth, Raph replaced his fallen clones, each of them leaping into action and all of them fighting together like a team. Just like with the Shredder fight, they covered for each other - one would take a hit while another would deliver a punch or a stab. They tossed their sais back and forth, and while S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N. would try to grab them to help even the odds, the Raphs were always one step ahead and able to rip the weapons out of the AI’s grip before he could even try to use them or get rid of them.

“Yes! Yes! YES!” Donnie cheered, “Come on, Raph! Finish this!”

S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N. tried one last attack, launching a clawed robotic hand at the throat of what he had thought was the real Raph - but Raph met it without even flinching, gripping the hand tightly with his own. Each of his clones grabbed on as well, and together they pulled the mess of robotic arms out of the ceiling, disabling them once and for all.

“Well done, big brother, well done!” Donnie told him, clapping (genuinely, NOT sarcastically!) as he walked over to him, “That was AWESOME!”

The Raphs all sheepishly grinned, a few of them stood proudly while others rubbed their arm or their neck. “Thanks, Don,” one of them - probably the main one - told him, “But uh, sorry for all the damage. We got really into the fight.”

“Oh, please. I’ve been wanting an excuse to test out and upgrade this system for a couple weeks now. Besides, even if I hadn’t been planning on my defenses getting destroyed, I don’t even think I’d be mad!” Donnie assured him, “That was just- holy grapes and cheese, that was incredible! Not just your cloning, but your strategy, how well you all worked together, _the fact that you might still be able to expel your mystic power as a shield!”_

“Wait, really?!” Raph said before remembering, another flicker of ‘deja vu’ in his eyes, “Oh, yeah! I think we did do that at one point! That or we just really wanted to block the shot.”

“Heh, either way, I think it’s safe to say that this test’s results are VERY positive,” Donnie grinned, “Both in testing your skills and in actually completing the goal of said test.”

“Yep, although-” Raph smirked, crossing his arms, “Even if we didn’t take the arms out, we still would’ve passed.”

“Wh- huh?” The Raph pointed towards the tank, and Donnie turned. There was another Raph, just chilling on the hood of the tank, who gave a small wave once Donnie finally saw him. “Wait… WHAT?! Wait, wait - real Raph or-?”

“Yep,” Raph nodded. Closing his eyes for a moment, he dispelled the rest of the clones, causing the sais that one of them had still been holding to briefly glow red before falling to the floor. “Just a little trick I thought of. I just figured that with all the Raphs runnin’ around, it’d be easy for one to slip by. And you said we could either disable everything or touch the tank, but you didn’t specifically say we couldn’t do both and I really did want to have a good fight.”

“Honestly, had this been a hostile situation, continuing to disable the defenses would have assured a safe escape, so you weren’t wrong on that front, and the classic distract-and-overwhelm strategy is a pretty valid one as well,” Donnie told him, “Again, I’m impressed, but in a completely different way. Well played. Although-”

He looked up at the security camera in the corner of the garage. “While that strategy would work against nearly all opponents, I wouldn’t have thought that an AI would miss that and not at least try to target the one sneaking towards the Tank. So, did you legitimately not catch him or-?”

 _“Nah, I just wanted to keep playing too,”_ S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N. answered, his tone so casual that Donnie knew if he actually had his body, he would’ve been shrugging.

“Offfff course. ...You know what? After a spectacle like that, I’m not even mad.”

Raph laughed, hopping down from the Tank. “Good to know. So, you got any interesting notes to share?”

“Hm?”

“You know, the notes you took on the fight - the notes you’ve been taking on EVERY test?”

There was a long pause as realization filled the softshell’s face, until he finally just groaned, saying a word that probably would have gotten him a light slap on the shoulder from their father if he had heard it. “SHELLDON, please tell me that you were recording.”

 _“You mean the test or just now with you being a total hypocrite?”_ S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N. replied, _“Because I got both, dude. Emphasis on both.”_

“Ugh, please upload a copy of the test on my main computer for reviewing,” Donnie told him, “Also I still don’t want you saying swear words, SHELLDON, you’re better than that.”

_“Booooooo.”_

Raph chuckled again, patting Donnie’s shell before going to pick up his fallen weapons. “On the plus side, at least now we’ll get to make notes together.”

Donnie sighed, managing a small smile. “A second perspective does usually assure a lower risk of missing important details.”

“Well, let’s get to it then,” Raph told him, “I can’t wait to see what it looked like on the sidelines.”

“Like I said, brother. Pretty amazing.”

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

 **INITIAL SUBJECT #1-R TESTS:** _5/5 TESTS COMPLETE._

**RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: … … ...**

Donnie furrowed his eyebrows as he tapped the screen on his wrist, more in an attempt to focus instead of actually typing anything out. He felt a light nudge, and forced himself to pull his eyes away from his device. 

“I’m not going to starve if I have a light supper, Raph,” he insisted - though that didn’t stop the purple turtle from grabbing another slice of double-pepperoni and mushroom pizza. “Besides, after all the work you’ve done today, you probably need the calories more than me.”

“It’s still not great for you,” Raph argued, reminding both himself and Donnie of their father, “and if you don’t help me eat the rest of this soon, it’s gonna get cold - and I know how you hate cold pizza.”

Donnie cringed. “I _do_ hate cold pizza…” Thankfully, he found as he took a bite, the slice he had grabbed was still at room temperature, the sauce and cheese melting onto his tongue without burning it. Even if his mind was still racing a bit with numbers and stats and ideas, he allowed himself to continue taking a break, if only because the alternative was more frustrating than anything else.

Raph however was feeling the exact opposite. “You know,” he began to say, taking a moment to lick his lips clean, “I think we actually learned a lot today! More than I knew before about my powers, anyway. And sure, maybe I’m not strong as I wanna be yet, but I can do a lot of other cool stuff too - both by myself and with my Clone Raphs!” There was even a chance to get his Power Smash Jitsu back! “Heh, guess you were right, Donnie. It WAS a good idea to do all this testing and research stuff. Nice work!”

“Mmhm, yeah,” Donnie mumbled, still chewing away, his gaze turned away on his brother and instead locked on the wooden bo sitting in the corner of the lab.

Raph raised an eyebrow. “What, you don’t agree?”

“No, no, it’s not that…”

“Well, what is it?” Raph asked, his voice taking on a tone that was more ‘gentle and supportive’ than actively prying - something Donnie could appreciate.

“It’s just… Don’t get me wrong, we collected a ton of information today. That part was most definitely a success,” Donnie told him, “But even so, it feels like we’ve only just scratched the surface! I just- I just KNOW that there’s so much left to discover about your new mystic weapon and powers!”

“...Uh huh.” Raph gave him a bit of a look. “You sure you don’t mean OUR mystic powers, Don?”

Donnie paused, finally looking back over at him. He briefly considering playing dumb, but then sighed. “Alright, fine. This whole experiment _might_ have gotten me curious about my own new powers too. Powers that are, as hard as it is for me to admit, pretty dang amazing…”

Raph patted his back. “Your tech’s still amazing too, Donnie! The stuff you make? It’s still some of the coolest stuff I’ve ever seen!”

His purple brother smiled slightly. “While I always appreciate compliments and support, that’s not what I meant. It’s easy for you and Leon and Mikey to test out your mystic powers and build new techniques onto them because you already have experience with dealing with them. But me? I’m pretty much starting at square one, and… I don’t even know WHERE to start!”

“...Well,” Raph began to say, “I may not know much about science and conducting tests and collecting data and all that. But, one thing Raph knows for sure, is that the best way to figure stuff out is by punching it out! Or, in your case, swinging it out.”

“Hmm, while experience on the battlefield is indeed valid, I don’t think it’d be very wise to try out untested abilities and strategies while fighting for my life, even if we don’t have demons or spider-ladies to worry about anymore,” Donnie countered. Even Lou Jitsu still knew _how_ to somewhat use impromptu weaponry like fish and ladders, after all, he didn’t just wing it. Honestly, the very idea of going into a situation completely blind was… a little more nerve wracking than the softshell cared to admit.

Thankfully, that wasn’t what his big brother was suggesting at all. “Who said it had to be on the battlefield? It doesn’t even have to be serious training. We could just do a little sparring for fun! You get to try different things and see what works or what triggers new abilities, and-” Raph added a smile, “I get to hang out with my brother while getting a workout. We could even get Frankenfoot to join in, if you needed an extra opponent. So, you in?”

Donnie smirked. Maybe he and Raph didn’t have the exact same level of appreciation and enjoyment for training and fighting. But for what it was worth- “Maybe stepping out of the lab to do some more hands-on testing wouldn’t be THAT bad of an idea. Aaaand I suppose I do owe you for- all this,” he gestured to his tablet and all the new information within it, “and all the testing.”

Raph simply shrugged. “Like I said, tests are easy. And I guess when you’ve got a lab partner helpin’ you figure ‘em out, getting the answers for them isn’t that bad either.”

“Well said, brother,” Donnie told him, chuckling slightly, “Well said.” Grabbing the last slice, pushed the box out of the way and scooted a little closer to Raph, leaning his head against his spiky shoulder. 

Coming from someone who didn’t always like touching or hugs, Raph knew it said more than any further words could, and returned the gesture by putting an arm around his purple brother, bringing him in for a gentle hug. Donnie didn’t say anything, and instead just leaned into it as he continued to eat.

A week later, the two brothers met up again in their home dojo - and this time, Donnie’s wrists were bare, save for his gloves. As tempted as he was to take notes during the battle, Donnie decided to take his big bro’s advice for once and just let himself experience the spar and all the surprises that would possibly come with it. He could analyze later - now was the time for showing what he could do!

“Though this spar may be friendly, I do hope you aren’t too annoyed with me, should there be a repeat of last time,” Donnie smirked.

“Uhh, you do remember that I let you win that spar, right?” Raph reminded him, “You know, my whole thing with wanting to spar with my buddy instead of you guys and feeling like I had to hide him-?”

 _“We will never know~”_ Donnie said simply, shrugging as he took out his bo. Not only was he finally starting to get used to having wood in his hand instead of metal, he could also faintly feel the mystic energy within it tingle, the weapon reacting slightly to his presence.

Donnie smiled genuinely at the feeling, holding his weapon tightly. Whether made with mysticism or science, this weapon was still _his_ , there was no doubt about that - and he couldn’t wait to discover everything he could about it! “So, you ready?”

Raph smiled back at him as he took out his sais, spinning them a few times before getting into his stance. In a blink of an eye, the single Raph became two, and then four - with all of them being ready for a brawl. “Let’s rumble!” 

The two middle Raphs raced forward, their fists at the ready. Donnie’s bo suddenly lit up as he swung it forward, its purple light glowing as bright as any LED he had. Each of their attacks and defensive moves met each other one after the other, their smiles never faltering as Donnie kept trying new and showy counterattacks, with Raph cheering him on every time even while still trying to fight him off.

And, though their spar had to eventually end in a draw after Donnie accidentally sent a rocket-shaped energy attack straight through a wall (“You think Pops will notice?” “Honestly? ...Fifty/fifty chance. Now help me grab one of Michael’s paintings to put over it.”), there was really only one way either of them could think to use to describe it:

 **_DUO TEST #1:_ ** _COMBAT-FOCUSED/STAMINA-FOCUSED, SOLO W/ INCLUSION OF CLONES AND IMPROVISATION_

 **_RESULTS:_ ** _TOTAL SUCCESS._

**THE END**


End file.
